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m, FILLMORE^S POLITICAL HISTOEY AND POSITION. 



SPEECH OF 



HOK eT B./MORGA]Nr, OF NEW YORK. 



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^^,^- IN U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AUGUST 4, 1856. 



The House bein^ in Committee of the Whole on 
the 8tate of the Union, Mr. Morgan said: 

Mr. Chairman: I propose to ask the attention 
ot the House and of the country, to tlie probable 
consequences of the success of' one of the candi- 
dates tor the Presidencv, who is a citizen of my 
own State, Hon. Millard Fillmore. 

To exhibit them fullv, it will be necessary to ex- 
amine hisantecedents, his personal relations to men 
and parties, the plattbrm upon which he has con- 
sented to stand, the influences which prevailed in 
ins nomination, the views and objects of those 
who support him, and the principles which must 
control him, if he is elected. 

My sole object in referring to his personal ante- 
cedents and relations, is to throw light upon his 
probable line of policy, should he be elevated to 
the I residential chair. I enter upon thatbranch 
ot the discussion with sincere reluctance, and only 
because it is essential to a full elucidation of the 
subject. 



MR. FILLMORE'S POLITICAL HISTORY. 

■;i _ In 1829, Mr. Fillmore made his first entrance 
1 into pnbhc life, having; been in that vear elected 
, ( to the New York Assemblv, as an Anti-Mason — 
•^ He was, once or twice, re-elected to the New York 
Assembly as an Anti-.Mason, and in 1832 was 
! elected as such a member of this House. In the 
same year, he voted for Mr. Wirt, the Anti-Ma- 
sonic candidate for the Presidency. 

He was afterwards a member of this House for 
a period of six years, commencing March 4, 1837 
.during which time he was attached to the Whi<^ 
I .iParty. During this, his second period of servicX 
in Congress, the slavery agitation arose and was 
continued in the country, and the records, often 
quoted, and to which I shall now only briefly re- 
fer, show that Mr. Fillmore voted with persistent 
firmness on the side of fVeedom, and in company 
with such men as John Q. Adams, Joshua R 
Criddings and Mr. Slade of Vermont. 

On the 21st day of December, 1837, Mr. Patton 
ot Virginia, offered the following resolution: 



I r..i'f """!:■ '^^^u ^^^ petitions, memorials, and pa- 
pers, touching the abolition of slavery or the bJ^ 

Dif{r?ct o?' T ''T''''-^-S of slaves,-In Ly Statue, 
li id on 'fh f 1?"'^°^ °'^ *'^« United St/tes, b* 
reld or?rf f' ""i^^u*^' ^''"S debated, printed. 
eTe?'s?:i?!rhti Ket^ ^" ^^r^.r..dZ what! 

M^^nmS^i:^liJr-?ffS^-12^,naysK 

On the II th of December, fsss, Mr Atherton 

offered his ce ebrated resolutions in ;eirrence to 

against their introductio^n and a^ail^^E IJof- 

wS." t'l^'^-""! December of the same year Mr 
TV e, of Virginia, offered a series of resoludona 
declaring against the abolition of slavery in tha 
D trie of Columbia, the abolition of tfeTnter! 

peho r'' m^'' ""V^^ reception of aboUoa 
petitions, affirming that the laws of Con^res3 

?co"ervTf,'"r'' Prescription of the mod' Tf 
recoveiy of fugitive slaves ; that Congress has n« 
power to impose the abolition of slavery npon a 
State as a condition of its admission^into tha 

S"r/o"t:u't,"'"f '' ^ ^'-« s^at'Li : 

tha tie te^.P,- '■''"'' ''^^"-^ a free State, 

Si^ito^StXmr^lc^S'tfT^^ 
lau-s of the non-slaveholding 'staffs in conf^cJ 
with such right were null and void ThP Zt 
o suspend the rules for the introd.lction oHhesa 

the South, and in coSX^tlthtd'a^f^.TS 

res'^ruUo^f ratnft'lhe'ih^^el ^dT"^' ^^^^ 
District of Columb a and the s'f ' ^''''''''' *^« 
same trade bereen^he 4 , ''' ' 'i"''''''' *^« 
ofreceivino- ,lToT- . .^^^'^S- ^nd in favor 

..ai.,, ^e Sou.;?; SofiT^/srs 



^^^^' 

\\1:,\ 



rules, and in company with Adams and Giddmps, 
On the 3l3t of December, 1839, Mr. Coles moved 
to suspend the rules for the purpose of moving a 
resolution against the reception of abolition peti- 
tions; which inoiion was lost; Jlr. Fillmore vo- 
ting against a suspension of the rules, and in com- 
pany with Adams and Giddings. 

On the 28th of January, 1840, the famous 21st 
rule was adopted, which precluded the reception 
or entertainment in any way of an abolition peti- 
tion. On adopting this rule Mr. Fillmore again 
voted against the South, in the negative. 

On the 9th of December, 1840, Mr. Adams, of 
Massachusetts, inoved a repeal of this last rule. — 
Mr. Jenifer, of Maryland, moved to lay the mo- 
tion on the table; ';\hich was carried; Mr. Fill- 
more voting in the negative, against the South. 

On the 21.5t of January, 1841, Mr. Adams pre- 
sented an abolition petition. Mr. Connor moved 
to lay a part of it, not embraced within the effect 
of the 21st rule, on the table. On the votes taken 
in reference to this petition. Mr. Fillmore's name 
is found with those of Adams and Giddings, and 
against the South. 

On the 21st of January, 1842, Mr. Adams pre- 
sented an abolition petition, praying the naturali- 
zation of free-negro foreigners, arid that they be 
allowed to hold real-estate. Mr. Wise moved to 
lay its reception on the table; which motion was 
carried. Mr. Fillmore again voted against the 
South, in the negative. 

On the 12th of December, 1842, Mr. Adams 
called up his motion to rescind the 21st rule. Mr. 
Johnson, of Maryland, moved to lay it on the 
table ; which motion was carried ; Mr. Fillmore 
again voting against the South, in the negative. 

On the 3d of January, 1843, .¥r. Morgan moved 
a resolution instructing the Committee on Terri- 
tories to bring in a bill repealing a certain act of 
the territorial legislature of Florida, preventing 
the immigration of free negroes into that Terri- 
tory. j\Ir. Black moved to lay the resolution on 
the table ; which was carried ; Mr. Fillmore again 
voting against the South, in the negative. 

These notes, covering every year of his Con- 
gressional service after the slavery agitation com- 
menced, and with which all his votes harmonize, 
show plainly enough where Mr. Fillmore stood at 
that time. 

In 1838, he wrote the following letter : 

Buffalo, Oct. 17, 1838. 

Sir: Tour communication of the 15th inst., as 
chairman of a committee ajipointed by the "Anti- 
Slavery Society of the County of Erie," has just 
come to hand. You solicit my answers to the fol- 
lowing interrogatories: 

First. Do you believe that petitions to Con- 
gress on the subject of slavery or on the slave 
trade ought to be received, read, and respectfully 
considered by the Representatives of the people. 

Second. Are you opposed to the annexation of 
Texas to the Union, under any circumstances, so 
long as slaves are held therein? 

Third. Are you in favor of Congress exerting 
all the constitutional power it possess to abolish 
the. internal slave trade between the States ? 

Fourth. Are you in favor of immediate legisla- 
tion for the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia? 

I am much engaged, and have no time to enter 



into an argument, or to explain at length my rea- 
sons for my opinion. I shall therefore content 
myself for the present by answering all your in- 
terrogatories in the affirmative, and leave for some 
future occasion a more extended discussion of the 
subject. 

I am, respectfully, your ob't servant, 

Millard Fillmore. 

W. Mills, Esq., Chairman. 

In 1847, as a candidate for the Comptrollership, 
he was the head of the New York State Whig 
ticket, which was run upon a platform, which pro- 
claims "since the crisis has arrived when the ques- 
tion must be met, uncompromising hostility to the 
extension of slavery into any territory now free, 
or which may hereafter be acquired by any action 
of the government of our Union." 

In 1848, we find him instigating Hon. N. K. 
Hall, his law partner and special political friend, 
afterwards his Postmaster General, to move a reso- 
lution here, which has more practical abolition- 
ism in it than any proposition ever agitated in 
Congress. The resolution lam about to read, was 
prepared by Mr. Hall in concert with Mr. Fillmore, 
and was fully approved by Mr. Fillmore. 

[Congressional Globe, Vol. 18, j). 390.] 

On the 23th of February, 1348, Hon. N. K. 
Hall of New York, offered the following resolu- 
tion in the House: 

" Resolved, That the Committee on the Judici- 
ary be, and they are hereby, directed to report to 
this House, with all convenient speed, a bill re- 
pealing all laws of Congress, and abrogating, so 
far as they are operative or in force in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, all laws of the State of Mary- 
land which authorize or require the courts, of- 
ficers, or magistrates of the United States, or of 
the said District, within the District of Columbia, 
to issue process for arrest, or commit to ihe jail of 
the said District any runaways or other slave or 
fugitive from service, or colored person claimed 
as such, except on due complaint and proof of, 
or on a conviction for, some crime or misdemea- 
nor, the commission of which by an}^ free white 
person would authorize in the same manner the 
arrest, commitment, and detention of such white 
person in like manner charged with or convicted 
thereof." 

This resolution is preceded by an elaborate pre- 
amble, in which, among other tilings, it is de- 
clared that the use of the jails in the District of 
Columbia for the detention of fugitive slaves, is 
'■^repiKjnant to the feelings of a larje majority of the 
people of the United States." 

In 1848, Mr. Fillmore was nominated and elected 
Vice-President on the same ticket with Gen. Tay- 
lor. The suggestion that he might receive this 
nomination, was a matter of consideration and 
discussion for some time before it was made, by 
Mr. Fillmore and his friends. Asa question of 
personal interest, Jlr. Fillmore hesitated and wa- 
vered in deciding whether to solicit this nomina- 
tion, or to reserve himself as a candidate for the 
United States Senatorship. On one point, his 
mind was made up from first to last. He would 
not accept the Vice-Presidential nomination, if i 
Mr. Clay was designated for the Presidency. He f'l 
had early adopted the opinion that Mr. Clay was *' 
unpopular and unavailable. So thinking, lie got J, 
up and managed a caucus of the New York mem- 
bers of Congress in 1839, at which a letter waa ., 

I 






agreed upon and signed, Mr. Mitchell only dissent- 
ing, advising tlie New York delegation in the 
Harrisburgh Convention, to bring out Gen. Flarri- 
son, and not Mr. Clay, ibr the campaign of 1840. 
He retained the same oy)iniou of Mr. Clay's una- 
vailability in 1848, which was increased by his 
ajiprehensions that Mr. Clay's declarations in the 
meantime in reference to tlie slavery question, 
■would make him fatally obnoxious to the free 
sentiment of the North. Mr. Fillmore doubted 
whether it would be ])ossible to support even Gen. 
Taylor at the North, in consequence of the preva- 
lence and warmth of these sentiments. His final 
conclusion, communicated at the last moment to 
his friends leaving ibr the Philadelphia Conven- 
tion, was, absolutely to refuse the use of his name 
if Air. Clay was nominated for the Presidency, and 
that lie did not desire his name to be used, if the 
nomination fell upon General Taylor. 

In fact, he was nominated upon the ticket with 
General Taylor, and it is only necessary to ob- 
serve that this was so done, for the sole purpose 
of conciliating anti-slavery support to the ticlcet. 
Mr. Fillmore was known throughout the country, 
as a decided anti-slavery man, and it was hoped 
aud believed tluit his name would reconcile North- 
ern voters to tlie supjiorl of General Taylor, aud 
so the event proved. 

The original draft of Mr. Fillmore's letter, ac- 
cepting the nomination for the Vice-Presidency, 
was submitted to his friends, and under their ad- 
vice, was not published, until certain extreme an- 
ti-slavery sentiments were stricken out, which, in 
their judgment, would have been fatal to the Whig 
party at the South. 

After his elevation to the Vice-Presidency, Mr. 
Fillmore toolc a new departure in politics, and I 
propose to iioint out some of the circumstances 
which preceded and attended it. 

In the year 1839, Mr. Seward being Governor 
of New York, a bill was passed by the Legisla- 
ture of that State, creating the office of Vice- 
Chancellor for Western New York. This office 
■was given by Gov. Seward to Frederick Whittel- 
sey of Rochester, the bill creating it having pass- 
ed the Legislature with the general understand- 
ing that that appointment would be made under 
it. Before the final completion of these proceed- 
ings. Mr. Fillmore, then at Washington, wrote 
a letter to a distinguished gentleman at Albany, 
expressing his own wish for this appointment, 
if it could be given to him consistently with the 
arrangements of the Whig party. In reply, Mr. 
Weed apprised him of the circumstances attend- 
ing the creation of the office. Mr. Fillmore, how- 
ever, never forgave Gov. Seward for his failure to 
gratify him in this matter. 

In reference to some of the appointments made 
by General Taylor for the State of New York, op- 
posing recommendations were made by Gov. Sew- 
ard and Mr. Fillmore. The latter gentleman com- 
plained, although really without cause, that he 
did not have that weight with General Taylor to 
which he was entitled. In the end, a coolness 
grew up between Gen. Taylor and Mr. Fillmore, 
which carried Mr. Fillmore by insensible degrees 
into the camp of their common enemies. Becom- 
ing more and more estranged from General Taylor, 
he joined himself to the opposition raised by the 
South and by the democratic party to General 
Taylor's territorial policy, and at length became 



a prominent and conspicuous member of the co- 
terie of LTnion savers. Nor did he fail to take an 
earl}- advantage of his new political connections, 
to gratify the views m respect to the distribution 
of office, disappointment in which was the sole 
cause of his oiiposition to the soldier aud patriol; 
then administering the government. 

In a speech delivered in California in the fall of 
1854, Mr. Foote of Mississippi lets us into some of 
these secret movements. After recapitulating the 
points of one of his speeches in the Utiited States 
Senate, in which he had denounced the free-soil 
movements and nominations to office of General 
Taylor, Mr. I'oote says:— 

'•I had not long taken my seat before Mr. Badger 
of North Carolina, one of the purest and most pa- 
triotic men that ever occupied a place in the na- 
tional council, came to me and stated that Vice- 
President Fillmore, then presiding othcer of the 
Senate, had requested him to make known to me 
that he perfectly concurred in the views which I 
had just expressed, and that he would be pleased 
to have an interview with me on tliesubject in the 
official rooms of the Capitol, at the hour of nine 
o'clock on the next morning. 1 promised to at- 
tend upon him at the time and place specified. I 
did so. 

Without going into particulars at present, it is 
sufficient for me to say that I obtained by the di- 
rection of i\lr. Fillmore from the hands of an ac- 
credited friend of his, a list of the nominees sub- 
ject to the objection of being agitators on the 
question of slavery. This ichole catalogue of ivor~ 
thics ivas disposed of in the Senate^ in other words 
they were sacrificed to the peace of the country 
save one or two, whose nominations remained to 
be acted upon on the last night of the session of 
Congress. They were disposed of by Mr. Fillmore 
himself^ on the same night; for just beforre the 
clock struck twelve, this gentleman, being then 
President, sent in a special messaf/e, icithdrawing all 
the offensive nominations, and substituting others 
in tlaeir stead." 

From this period, Mr. Fillmore was against his 
old friends and his old principles. As President 
he acted with the South and with the Democrats. 
Whig members of Congress had no access to him, 
and no infiaence with him. It was at the end of 
his administration that honest John Davis of Mas- 
sachusetts, with bowed head and desponding heart, 
made the memorable declaration that '■ slavery 
rules everything." A distinguished member of this 
House from Maine, Mr. Washburn, has informed 
the public that Mr. Davis said to him, that he felt 
himself as much a stranger in the White House 
after the accession of Mr. Fillmore, as he did du- 
ring the administration of Mr. Polk. What was 
true of Mr. Davis, the tried and trusted leader of 
the Whigs of Massachusetts, was true of all the 
Whigs of the North who held fast to old princi- 
ples. Mr. Fillmore received his reward in the 
unanimous support of the South in the Whig Con- 
vention of 185'2. But between himself and the 
true Whigs of the North, he had, with his own 
hands, erected an impassable wall of separation. 
No personal disappointments could justify Mr. 
Fillmore in forming his new alliances against Gen. 
Taylor, but in truth, nothing had occurred of 
which he had the least right to complain. Gen. 
Taylor was a just, upright and sagacious man 
Instead of finding Mr. Fillmore an impartial conn- 



fellor, taking a broad view of things, he found 
him intent at all times on advancing his peculiar, 
personal interests. At the first interview between 
them in Washington, Mr. Fillmore demanded that 
his partner, Mr. Hall, should be appointed Gover- 
nor of Minnesota, and that Mr. Foote, the editor 
of his paper, the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, 
ehould be appointed Minister at Constantinople. 
Gen. Taylor could not but see, and he did see, that 
Wr. Fillmore was a mere office broker for his par- 
ticular friends, instead of being a reliable adviser 
for the general good of a common party. Again 
at P>ie, when Gen. Taylor was lying th^-re sick, 
and so sick, that,, to use his own expression, he 
^ could not tell night from day," Mr. Fillmore came 
up from Buttalo, not to minister to him, not to 
comfort him, but to extort a promise from him, the 
performance of which he afterwards exacted, that 
his friend, Mr. Stuart, should be api)ointed Archi- 
tect of public buildings. Gen. Taylor noted these 
and similar things, and often, before his death, 
epoke of them with grief and indignation. 

I know that there are many Whigs at the North, 
•who still hold in good faith to the old principles 
of the Whig party of the North, who incline to 
support Mr. Fillmore. Let me warn such men, 
that the rancor of a renegade always surpasses the 
hostility of an original enemy, and that we have 
more to hope, (I speak now as an original Whig, ) 
from Mr. Buchanan, than I'rom Mr. Fillmore, ■wlio 
hates his old associates and his old principles, 
from the consciousness, which he cannot escape, 
that he has been false to both. Implacable en- 
mity to all the true men of the North, and thorough 
devotion to the politicians of the South; these 
make up the personal relations, never again to bs 
changed, of Mr. Fillmore. 

THE AMERICAN PARTY PLATFORM. 

• The present platform of the American party, 
adopted in February last, and upon which Mr. 
Fillmore now stands, is precisely the same as the 
Cincinnati platform, so fiir as the Kansas-Nebraska 
policy is concerned. This is clear from its lan- 
guage, and equally so from its history. 

The first platform of the American party, 
adopted in June 1855, contained the celebrated 
" Tivel/th ■■section," now expunged, and which was 
»s follows : — 

"XII. The American party, having arisen upon 
the ruins, and in spite of the opposition, of the 
Whig and Democratic jiarties, cannot be in any 
manner responsible for the obnoxious acts of vio- 
lated pledges of either. And the systematic agi- 
tation of the slavery question by those parties hav- 
ing elevated sectional hostility into a positive ele- 
ment of political power, and brought our institu- 
tions into peril, it has, therefore, l^ecome the im- 
perative duty of the American party to interpose 
for the purpose of criving peace to the coimtry and 
perpetuity to the Union. And, as experience has 
shown it impossible to reconcile opinions so ex- 
treme as those which separate the disputants, and 
as there can be no dishonor in submitting to the 
laws, the national council has deemed it the best 
guarantee of r-otnmon justice and of future peace 
lo ahidc hy and maintain the existing laics upon the 
avhji-'d. <i/ slavery as a final and conclusive settle- 
ment of that suhject. in spiril and in substance. 

'' And regarding it the highest duty to avow 



their opinions upon a subject so Important in dis- 
tinct and unequivocal terms, it is hereby declared, 
as the sense of this national council, that Congress 
possesses no power imder the Constitution to legis- 
late upon the subject of slavery in the States 
where it does or may exist, or to exclude any State 
from admission into the Union because its Consti- 
tution does or does not recognise the institution of 
slavery as a part of its social system; and ex- 
pressly pretermitting any expression of opinion 
upon the ])ower of Congress to establish or jiro- 
hibit slavery in any Territory, it is the sense of 
the National Council that Congress ought not to 
legislate upon the subject of slavery within the 
Territories of the United States, and that any in- 
terference by Congress with slaver^' as it exists in 
the District of Columbia would be a violation of 
the spirit and intention of the compact hy which 
the State of Maryland ceded the District to the 
United States, and a breach of the National faith." 

Here was no approval of the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise. On the contrary, thf reference 
to "obnoxious acts" and "violated pledges," was in- 
tended, either to condemn it, or to carry the ap- 
pearance of condemning it. But in respect to all 
present and future action, which is its only practi- 
cal aspect, this section sustains the Nebraska Act 
as a thing settled and not to be disturbed. 

This 12th section ofi'ended the great body of the 
Northern Americans, and at a separate Convention 
holden at Cincinnati in the fall of 1855, in which 
this Northern wing was largely represented, the 
following resolution was adopted : 

''That the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
was an infraction of the plighted faith of the Na- 
tion, and that it should be restored; and if efforts 
to that end should fail. Congress should refuse to 
admit into the Union any State tolerating slavery, 
which shall be formed out of any portion of the 
Territory from which that institution was excluded 
by that compromise." 

This was the most moderate form to which the 
demands of the Northern Americans^ could then 
be reduced. 

In February last, the party met again in Na- 
tional Convention, and having set aside the plat- 
form of June 1855, adopted a new one, of which 
the two following are the only clauses which re- 
late to the Nebraska controversy : 

"Seventh. The recognition of the right of the 
native-born and naturalized citizens of the United 
States permanently residing in any Territory 
thereof, to frame their Constitution and laws, and 
to regulate their domestic and social aflairs in their 
own mode, subject only to the provisions of the 
Federal Constitution, with the right of admission 
into the LTnion whenever they have the requisite 
population for one Representative in Congress." 

" Thirteenth. Opposition to the reckless and un- 
\<'ise policy of the present Administration in the 
general management of our national aflairs, and 
more especially as shown in ' removing Ameri- 
cans' (by designation) and conservatives in prin- 
ciple from office and placing foreigners and ultra- 
ists in their places ; as shown in a truckling sub- 
serviency to the stronger, and an insolent and 
cowardly bravado toward the weaker j)Owers ; as 
shown in re-opening sectional agitation, by the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, &c., &c." 

As to the past, tliis new platform differs from 
the old platform, inasmuch as it expressly cou- 



demns the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
whereas the the old one does s^^ only by inference 
and coiisf ruction, ff it does so at all. 

As to the present and future, the two platforms 
are identical, both upholdiniz; the Xei>raska policy 
of Judge Douglass, and both repudiaiing Con- 
gressional control over the Territories, under pre- 
tence of giving to the citizens thereof the right to 
govern themselves. 

Practically, it is of no moment, what individu- 
als, or parties, think of the repeal of the .Missouri 
Compromise. The important question is, what 
shall now be done? Shall the Douglass swindle 
be accpiiesced in, or shall the Compromise be res- 
tored, in letter or suljstance? But while this is 
the only practical question, I must take occasion 
to say that I find it easier to respect those who 
sustain the Douglass policy as right in principle, 
than those who condemn it, and at the same time 
sustain it. 

The Northern members of the February Con- 
vention, saw at once that this new platform was 
as complete a repudiation of their views as the 
old one. 

A resolution was offered by one of them that 
" we ivM nominate no candidate for President or 
Vice President, who is not in favor of interdicting 
the introduction of slaveri/ north of 36° SC.'' 

A motion was made to, lay this resolution on 
the table, and it was carried — yeas 141, nays 59. 

The resolution to proceed "to a ballot having 
passed, the Convention was about to do so, when 
Mr. Perkins of Connecticut, announced the seces- 
sion from the Convention of the delegates of that 
State, which was followed by Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Ohio, and portions of the delegates of Illi- 
nois, Iowa, and Pennsylvania. 
• These seceding members put forth an address to 
the public, of which the following is the material 
portion : 

"The undersigned, delegates te the Nominating 
Convention now in session at Philadelphia, find 
themselves compelled to dissent from the principles 
avowed by that body ; and holding the opinion, 
a.s they do, that the restoration of the .Missouri 
Compromise, demanded by a majority of the whole 
people, is a redress of an undeniable wrong, and 
the restoration of it, in spirit at least, indispen- 
sable to the repose of the country, they have re- 
garded the refusal of that Convention to recognize 
the well defined opinion of the country, and of the 
Americans of the free States, upon this question, 
as a denial of their rights, and a rebuke to their 
sentiments." 

Many Northern members having left the Con- 
vention upon these grounds, Mr. Fillmore ob- 
tained the nomination, receiving the Southern 
votes, with the exception of a few given to Garret 
Davis, of Ky., and Gen. Houston. 14 of the 15 
delegates from Virginia voied for Mr. Fillmore, 
andso did unanmiously the delegations from 
Maryland, Deliware, North Carolina, Missouri, 
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Jlississippi. 
And thus the South obtained the platform it 
wanted, and the man of its choice. 

This thing was ami is understood by the 
-Southera members of that Convention, precisely 
as it was by the Northern members. The South 
came otf the substantial winner, although, for 
theatrical effect, it was thought best to shed a few 
tears over the departed ^'twelfth section,'' 



Mr. ZollicofFer, a member of this Hiuse, from 
Tennessee, was a member of that Convention, and 
he has told us here, exactly what the true scope of 
the new platform is. I will quote from his re- 
ported ?peech. 

lu the House, on the 3rd of April, 1856, [Ap- 
pendix to Cong. Globe. 1st. session, 3-4th. Cong, 
page 355.] 

.Mr. Zollicoffer said : — 

'•My colleague makes the point against me, that 
the thirteenth section emlu-aces a sjiecification 
against the Adjiiinistration, for "reopening sec- 
tional agitalion*y a repc;'.l of the .Missouri Com- 
promise." I will inform my colleague that I pro- 
po.sed to strike out that specification, and every 
specification in the .thirteenth section; but there 
being much disorder at the time, I tailed to suc- 
ceed. ."•' * * The question was subsequently 
about being put in the American council, shall 
the new platform be adopted in lieu of the old ? 
when some member proposed a division of the 
question, which was agreed to, and the vote was 
first taken upon striking out the old platform, I 
voted against striking out, but the proposition 
carried. Then the question recurred ui)on the 
adoption of the new platform. I voted /or its adop- 
tion. I did it just as I voted for the Kansas-Ne- 
braska bill in 1854, with some minor objections, 
which I stated at the time. * * * But to 
make the most of that specification in the plat- 
form, it is but an expression of opinion as to a ?'?/- 
gone ism, while the seventh section of the platform 
lavs down a vital principle of action for the pre- 
sent and the future, covering the whole ground, 
and P.EASsV:RTL\G THE LEADING PRIN- 
CIPLE EMBODIED BOTH IN THE OLD 
TWF:LFTH SECTION AND IN THE NE- 
BRASKA ACT " 

Thus it is dear, that the American platform, for 
all substantial purposes, is identical with the Cin- 
cinnati platform. 

To the same effect, another Fillmore member of 
this House, Hon. Charles Ready of Tennessee, in a 
recent letter to his constituents, says : — 

It is true, Mr. Fillmore was opposed to the re- 
peal of the Missouri restriction ; and some, it may 
be many, of his supporters, were also opposed to 
it. Therein, there was a differenoe of opinion be- 
tween us. 

But all those things are past. We must now 
look to the future. Will there, in the future, be 
an issue between us ? Is Mr. Fillmore now, and 
will he hereafter be, in favor of restoring the Mis- 
souri restriction ? lie is known to he opposed to all 
agitation on the suhject of slavery, axd to stand by 
THE EXISTING LAWS. Then, there is no practical 
issue between us upon this point, nor is there be- 
tween him and Mr. Buchanan. He also holds to 
the right of .the Territory to admission into the 
Union, with a Constitution prohibiting or estab- 
lishing Slavery, as the people may therein provide. 
In this, we also agree with each other, and with 
.Mr. Buchanan. Surely, then, I can support him 
without any inconsistency or change of political 
opinion." 

' MR. FILLMORE'S POSITION. 

Mr. Fillmore talks, just as his platform reads. 

P'ollowing that lead, he condemns the repeal of 

the ilissouri Compromise, and he says that he was 

I opposed to it when it was done. I believe this to 



6 



be an after thought, Not one word, not one lino, 
was given to the public by Mr. Fillmore in 1854, 
against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. 
He was then making a tour through the South, 
delivering speeches, and whining about the 
" Union,'' just as he is now. Not a lisp did he 
utter against the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
mise, until the cue' was given him in this platform. 
Following the same cue. he avoids saying any 
thing about resiorinfi the Compromise. 

Not only does Mr. Fillmore thus adopt a plat- 
form, in no respect better than the one which is 
sinking Mr. Buchanan, beyond4|the reach of the 
plummet, but he himself superadds to it, nullifica- 
tion, disunion and treason. This is strong lan- 
guage, but it is borne out by the truth. Mr. Fill- 
more does not merely predict disunion, but he in- 
cites and approves it. fie does not merely say 
that the South 7viU dissolve the Union if Col. 
Fremont is elected, but that they ought to dissolve 
it, and would be doing no more than the North 
would do under similar circumstances. 

At Alban_y, June 2Gth, Mr. Fillmore said : — 

"We see a political party presenting candidates 
for the Presidency and Vice Presidency, selected 
for the first time from the free States alone, with 
the avowed purpose oC electing these candidates 
by suS'erages of one part of the Union only, to 
rule over the whole United States. Can it be pos- 
sible that those who are engaged in such a mea- 
sure can have seriously reflected upon the conse- 
quences which must inevitably follow, in case of 
success? [Cheers.] Can they have the madness 
or the folly to believe that our Southern brethern 
would submit to be governed by such a Chief 
Magistrate? [Cheers.] Suppose "that the South 
having a majority of the electoral votes, should 
declare that they would only have slave-holders 
for President and Vice President ; and should 
elect such by their exclusive suffrages to rule over 
us at the North — do you think we would submit 
to it? No, not for a moment. [Applause.] And 
do you believe that ^our Southern brethren are 
lees sensitive on this suliject than you are, or less 
jealous of their rights?" 

Certainly Mr. Fillmore advances rapidly. In 
1848, an abolitionist, in 1850, a Union man, in 
1856, a nuUifier. What next? 

WHO SUPPORT AND WILL CONTROL MR. 
FILLMORE ? 

By no possibility, can Mr. Fillmore get a North- 
ern vote in the electoral colleges. In all proba- 
bility, he can get none anywhere. If, however, 
the election is accidentally thrown into this House, 
not a solitary Northern Stale is in his favor, as 
represented here. In any wise, hi? whole strength 
is at the South. His party is there. The control 
of it lies there. The Northern Americans are mere 
liobs to a Southern kite, just as the Northern 
Deuiocrats are. The only question between the 
Buchanan and Fillmore parties, is, which of two 
l)arties, both intensely and exclusively Southern, 
shall vault into power. 

Now, I assert here, that the thirty Fillmore 
members of this House from the Soutli, are even 
more rabidly and furiously pro-slavery, than the 
Democrats from the South are. Tlu'v united in the 
attempt to make Gov. Aiken, with his 1500 slaves, 



speaker. They resisted, to a man, the investiga- 
tion into the Kansas outrages, and to a man, they 
resist every measure of rcdresf. To a man, they 
voted against the restoration of the Missouri Com' 
promise as jjrovided in Mr. Dunn's bill. To a man 
they voted to keep Gen. Whitfield, the bogus delo 
gate from Kansas, in his seat. On every thing, 
bearing directly, or indirectly, upon slavery, they 
vote to a man. They did so, on the contested 
seat between Messrs. Allen and Archer of Illinois. 

They threaten disunion if the Missouri restric- 
tion is restored. On the 20th of last December, 
[Appendix to Cong. Globe, page 30.] Jlr. Cox of 
Kentucky said : — 

"When you tell me that you intend to put a re- 
striction on the Territories, I say to you that upon 
that subject the South is a unit, and WILL NOT 
SUBMIT TO ANY SUCH TmNG." 

On the 19lli of last December, [Appendix to 
Cong. Globe, page 56.] Mr. Campbell of Ken- 
tuckj- said : — 

" It is an interference with our institutions 
when our citizens are denied the same rights in 
the new Territories with the citizens from the 
North ; for that Territory belongs to us as much 
as it does to you. * * ■■• 

Whenever this Government makes a distinction 
between a Southern and Northern constitutency or 
citizenship, then we shall 710 longer consider our- 
selves bound to support the Confederacy, but WILL 
RESORT TO THE RIGHT OF REVOLUTION, 
which is recognized by all." 

The following is one of the resolutions of the 
last American State Convention in Alabama: 

"Resolved, That in view of the increased dan- 
' gers that threaten the institutions of the South, 
' this convention deems it necessary to, and does 
' hereby, re-endorse and ado]it the following reso^ 
' lution, known as the Georgia platform, to wit : 
' That the State of Alabama, in the judgment of 
' this convention, will and ought to resist, (as a 
' last resort,) to a disruption of every tie which binds 
' her to the Union, any action of Congqess upon 
' the subject of Slavery in the District of Colum- 
' bia, or in places subject to the jurisdiction of 
' Congress, incompatible with the safety, the do- 
' mestic tranquillity, the rights and honor of the 
' slaveholding States ; or any act suppressing the 
' slave trade between the slaveholding States ; or 
' any refusal to admit, as a State, any Territory 
' applying, because of the existence of Slavery 
' therein ; or any act prohibiti7ig the introduction, of 
' slaves into the Territories; or any act repealing, 
' or materially modifying, fhe laws now in force, 
' for the recovery of fugitive slaves." 

It is useless to multiply quotations farther. The 
whole thing is stated with exactness and truth, 
in a letter addressed ob the 2d inst. to citizens of 
New Jersey by a member of this House, Mr. Wat- 
kins of Tennessee, himself elected as an Amerioau 
to his seat here. 

"Taking the record of this Congress in the va- 
rious tests that have been applied, and the relative 
position and votes of the three parties, I am forced 
to the conclusion, by every principle of reason, 
policy, and philosophy, that the South Americans 
must and will ultimately unite with the democrat- 
ic party, and tiiose who claim to be Americans 
North with the republican party." 

And again, in the same letter, Mr. Watklns 
says: 



"The interests, sympathies, and legitimate and | 
proJeriieS of {he South Americans are wUh 
?l "'national demoovatic party ot the connUj \ 

TTndoubledly this is so, and '^,^^^^^^ 
holding sincere opinions upon the H^^f /l^f^f^J 

AMll De P'^'^^'-'^-' , i,^[\y Southern can- 

Mr. Buchanan. Ihey ait uoui ^ 

Lrsons at the North, honest y o.PP°/^-^ /"^j^^^VIu- 

.,♦- ami T intend to sneak l>lainly. ills' 
movements, and 1 "iJ_^"'J ^( pi'umore has no 
fa^t liecomino- apparent tu.u -HI- i^ 11'"'." t;t^t„ 

Sself and his inunediate advisers. It i= 113 
'.^ost deliberate .indgment ^l^f ^tSu^ef " ii 1-ep 

oiT the Northern States a man more compicui,\ 

.t^d'SreSvably .edded to the South by h,s 

r^ sympathies on the one hand and hi> ha reds on 

the other than Mr. Fillmore. Since I80O, he has 

• £r whh the South and with the democnm 

^ A Ua ^^iil Tif>ver return to tne lueuus 

^Si T. 1 s r »"d Tl,e, expect „oa™.g 



\ive of Southern sectional interests. Has Ireedoin 
SJov^Mhan slavery, to produce concert, and 

^^^SSS^nofk Fillmore^ the So^l. at 

tTorSrklmoiU.^ ivillthe iutelligent peo- 
T>ip of the North be longer deceived '. 
^II? Fiimore has delivered many speeches since 
his return from Europe, but in not one of theni has 
^^e expre sed either sympathy for the ^own-trodden 
people oi Kansas, or indignation against tho»e 
wSShave oppressed them. He has propo ed no 
wuo u.i>c 11 , . ^fronsrs, and he has 

measure of redress lor tneir ^^'""o;' „ ., 
offered co-operation in no such measuie. 1 or t e 
cane of liberty, so fearfully imperiled by th, 
^ants in Kansas, he has uttered no ^'o f^f ^'^'^f '' 
Tr counsel, or hope. He has been as silent and as 
oold as the grave, npona theme which has stiued 



Lt to be reached by tb« snpport of ^- South.^^ 
He has no voice, and no heait, tor me .nui 
he has abandoned. wetence, is 

And for what cause and on .^^^ ^'^J^, ^ at 
the North to be persuaded ^o /'vide its stien.t . 
this crisis? ,.For ail issue arid a ^uc. on,^^^^ ^, 
in all its political aspects, "f '^?f" ^ ses- 

JSmll^i^uf^^^ofriend^of^Mr Fillmo^^ 
has moved any change m the ^'^tur.uizau , 

X-xn^re in which is the only nib.tantial object 

.«i,^ enough «»d -''7, ™f have be e»"„o- 

whprever the interests or siaveiy uav 

Zs given 10 ll,i, FO'h-i'a ■^^"i^f A »„.»n 
Sf?JfSrS-.«l'lrbeteetVbVp'..eo^ess„ 

and controls everything- else .^^^,,r on 

not Fillmore alone, bad as that would De, 
Fillmore and Donolson, " niggers and ail. _ 

The Aucrusta (Ga.) Chronicle, urging the claims 
of Mr F r.nJi-e 'upoii the South, makes the tollovv- 
U; statement as to the sentiments which he ex 
pressed during his Southern tour ot 1854 

"Havin.^ made the tour of the Southwestern 
Sla. States, he announced on the steps of the 
Sttte House door in Montgomery, that the anti 
stverTpreiudices of his early cducaHon had been 
omSiJd by what he had seen tn the South of the 
haupV condition of the slave: _ _ 

Of the fact that Mr. Fillmore's original opinions 

Mr Filmore saw of ^^ the happy condition of 
fkeslave^^ at the South, but what he had seen of 
%hehm->y condition' of politicians at this seat of 
power 'iLning fortune -nd prosperi y by s^^h- 
serviency to the interests of slavery, ^t ^as th 3 
spectiiclJof what has been, but ^-^7 "°t ^ ^f^^^ 
continue, which ^^obliterated." every single tiea 
p??ncipTe' of Mr. Fillmore's youth and manhood. 



CIRCULATE THE DOCUMENTS. 



The Republican Association of Washington City, in order to afford every 
facility for a profuse distribution of documents during the campaign, have made 
extensive arrangements for publishing speeches and documents favoring the prin- 
ciples of the Republican Party, and will furnish them to individuals, or clubs, at 
the bare cost of publication. 

The following is a list of those already published ; and, being stereotyped, we 
are enabled to supply any number of copies at short notice : 

List of Documents already published, and which •will be kept for sale till the end of the Campaign. 



At 62 cents per 100 copies, free of^ ;e. 

Poor Whites of Ihe South — Weston. 

Will the South Dissolve the Union?— Weston. 

The Federal Union, it must he Preserved. — Weston. 

tSoiuhcrn ^^hivery reiUices Northern Wages. — Weston. 

Who ;ire Sectional? — Weston. 

Review ol" the Kansas Minority Report. — Hon. J. Sher- 

inai:. 
Reasons for Joininft Ihe Republican Party — Judge Foot. 
Kansas Contested Election. — Hon. J. A. Bingham. 
Admission of Kansas. — Hon. G. A. Grow. 
CollaiTier's Report and Speech in favor of Free State 

Constitution tor Kansas. 
Kansas Alfairs. — Hon. H. Waldron. 
Defe}ice of Kansas. — Rev. Henry Ward B^echer. 
Defence of Massachusetts. — Hon A Burlingame. 
Privilege of the Representative, Privilege of the People. — 

Hon. J. R. Giddings. 
Democratic Parly as it Was and as it Is — Hon. T.C.Day. 
Tlie Humbug and the Reality —Hon. T. C. Day. 
Blair's Letter to the Republican Association. 
The Slavery Question. — Hon. J. Allison. 
Slavery Unconstilutional. — Hon. A. P. Granger. 

At $1.25 per 100 copies, free of postage. 

Kansas in 1856: A complete History of the Outrages in 
Kansas not embraced in the Kansas Committee's Re- 
port. — By an Officer of the Commission. 

Immediate Admission of Kansas. — Hon. W. H. Seward. 

Admission of Kansas, and the Political Effects of Slave- 
ry. — Hon. H. Bennett. 

Affairs in Kansas. — Hon. L. Trumbull. 

Wrongs of Kansas — Hon. S. P. Hale. 

Admission of Kansas. — Hon B F. Wade. 

State of Affairs in Kansas — Hon. H. Wilson. 

Admission of Kansas.— Hon. James Harlan. 

The '-Laws" of Kansas. — Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 

Organization of the Free Stale Government in Kansas, 
and Inaugural Address of Governor Robinson. 

Plymouth Oration. — Hon. W H. Seward. 

The Dangers of Kxlending Slavery, and The Contest and 
the Crisi.s; two Speeches in one pamphlet. — Hon. W. 
H. Seward. 

Politics of the Country. — Hon. Israel Washburn. 

Complaints of the Extensionists; their Falsity. — Hon. 
Philemon Bliss. 

Tlie Slavery Question. — Hon. Edward Wade. 

Extravagant Expenditures.— Hon. E Ball. 



Freedom National, Slavery Sectional. — Hon. J. J. Perry. 

The Army of the United States not to be Employed as a 
Police to Enforce the l>aws of the Conquerors of Kan- 
sas.— Hon. W. H. Seward. 

Modern " Democracy " the Ally oi Slavery. — Hon. M. W 
Tappan. 

At $2.50 per 100 copies, free of postage. 

Crime against Kansas. — Hon. Charles Sumner. 
Rejiort of the Kansas Investigating Committee. 
Lite of Fremont, illustrated. 

The Nebraska Question, containing the Speeches of Doug- 
las. Chase, Smith, Everett, Wade, Badger, Seward, and 
Sumner together with the History of the Missouri 
Compromise, &c. Price 20 cents, free of postage. 

Political Map of the United States, designed to exhibit the 
comparative area of the Free and Slave States, ai d the 
Territory open to Slavery by tHfe Repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise. With a comparison of the principal Sta- 
tistics of the. Free ajid Slave States, from the Census of 
1650. Highly Colored. Price 20 cents, free of postage. 



In the German Language. 

Crime against Kansas. — Hon. Charles Sumner. Price 

$2.50 per 100. 
Life of Fremont, illustrated. Price $2.50 per 100. 
The "Laws" of Kansas. — Hon. Schuyler Colfax. Price 

$1.25 per 100. 
The Dangers of Extending Slavery. — Hon. W. H. Seward. 

Price $1. 25 per 100. 
The Contest and the Crisis.- W. H. Seward. Price $1.25 

per 100. 
The Immediate Admission of Kansas. — Hon. W. H. Sew- 
ard Price $1.25 per 100. 
Address of the National Republican Committee. Price 

$1.25 per 100. 
Francis P. Blair''s Letter to the Republican Association. 

Price 62 cents per 100. 
Slavery Unconstitutional. — Hon. A. P. Granger. Price 

62 cents per 100. 
Poor ■Whites of the South. — G. M. Weston. Price 62 

cents per 100. 
Report of the Kansas Investigating Committee. Price 

$2.50 per 100. 



Jg@°* A liberal discount is made from the above prices when ordered by the 

thousand copies. Address 

L. CLEPHANE, 

Secretary f Washington^ D. C. 







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